5G is the latest Internet standard, and offers much higher upload and download speeds than its predecessor, 4G.
However, there are many other benefits of this new technology that make it better than 4G for gamers.
While fibre remains the best option for gamers, not everyone has access to a fibre broadband connection, which means their only option is a mobile broadband connection.
5G ultimately outperforms 4G in almost every aspect, which should be great news to gamers that rely on mobile connections.
However, 5G is still in its early stages of implementation and there are therefore some drawbacks to consider as a gamer before you decide to switch your home connection.
To help you decide on which package suits your gaming needs the best, we’ve put together a comparison between 5G and 4G home Wi-Fi connections.
Latency/ping
The most important factor for online gamers, especially in fast-paced competitive titles, is a decent ping.
The lower your ping, the more responsive things feel, and in a competitive FPS game like CS:GO, your latency can be the decider between winning or losing a fight.
According to RootMetrics, 4G networks deliver a ping of between 50-80ms, which will still keep you competitive, while advanced 4G LTE networks can go as low as 20ms.
With 5G, the figures get even lower, with ping averaging around 12ms, meaning you’ll have a much better chance of registering that round-winning headshot.
| Network Type | Average ping (ms) |
| 4G | 50-80 |
| 4G LTE | 20-30 |
| 5G | 12-20 |
Download speeds
Due to the increasingly jaw-dropping graphics of modern-day titles, download sizes are becoming bigger and bigger, with Red Dead Redemption 2 being a whopping 150GB.
This means that the higher your download speed, the less time you’ll spend staring at download menus waiting to play your favourite title.
According to Vodacom, with a good 4G home Wi-Fi connection, you can reach speeds of up to 35Mbps. Some LTE advanced services can crank it up to 150Mbps, but 5G reigns supreme with average download speeds of around 500Mbps.
Note: that actual speeds vary from network to network, and which package you decide to go for.
| Network Type | Average download speeds (Mbps) | average upload speeds (Mbps) |
| 4G | 35 | 6 |
| 4G LTE | 150 | 25 |
| 5G | 500 | 50 |
Drawbacks
Wi-Fi connections are unstable relative to fibre. Mobile connections are only as good as the networks to which they belong, and some networks have more stable and reliable connections than others.
Due to 5G being relatively new, you’ll also have to check that you have coverage before you decide to purchase a package from a selected provider.
Additionally, you may find that depending on your area, 5G speeds may not be much better than 4G, in which case it’s not worth changing your entire setup.
On the whole, however, 5G has the potential to rival any fibre connection and it’s an exciting proposition that’s only likely to get more exciting with time.
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